[Enough is ENOUGH]

On the contrary, many groups of well-meaning responsible individuals can find themselves simply making bad or limited decisions based on "harmony of the group" verses the information at hand.

Envision, if you will, a group of gazells descending on a water hole inhabited by lurking crocodiles. One or two of the gazells might sense the unknown danger hidden in the murky waters yet they guardedly join the ranks of the others feeling somewhat secure in the safety of numbers.

Thwapp! The mighty reptiles strike. Their muscular jaws clenching the necks of their unsuspecting prey, dragging their bodies struggling for freedom and air into the murky depths of their watery grave. The process repeats over and over again because this process is one of the laws of nature.

We humans have the ability to rise above this. I have said before that I feel safest hearing from people who are courageous enough to express dissenting views. Views that are based on logic and with valid premises.

[tpaine]

"I have said before that I feel safest hearing from people who are courageous enough to express dissenting views. Views that are based on logic and with valid premises."

Exactly. -- I've learned far more from trying to understand my opponents POV, and attempting to counter that view, than from shouting him down as a fifth columnist.

[not that that isn't fun, when all else fails]